Doughnuts or Fastnachts?
In March of 2017, I wrote an article about Fastnachts, those holeless, wholesome doughnuts that appear every year in parts of Pennsylvania on Shrove Tuesday to usher in the Lenten season. So as not...
Author: Mark Hagenbuch
School Picture Day
An important day in the calendar of public school life was “picture day.” Having taught elementary school and serving as an elementary principal, all told for 35 years, that special day was filled with...
‘Reney, Get Your Hiney Down Here!
School days, school days, Dear old Golden Rule days ‘Reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmetic, Taught to the tune of a hick’ry stick! —Will D. Cobb and Gus Edwards, 1907 Dotted across Pennsylvania are one-room...
Württemberg Geography
As we continue to explore the early history of our German ancestors, we have tried to wrap our minds around the geography of the region they lived in during the 17th and 18th centuries....
Three Things: Blessings for the New Year
Before I even read Andrew’s Christmas article entitled “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” I was thinking along the same lines for my New Year’s article. With a little help from him, we continue to...
Plagues, Wars, and Despair
Although we know more than ever about Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715) and his family in Berks County, his early life in Germany, before he came to America in 1737, is shrouded in mystery. Information...
Two Little Girls
It began with two photos. Two little girls dressed in the 1940s fashion—hooded coats, snow pants, and woolen leggings. The girls, Kathleen Hagenbuch and Joan Hagenbuch, were somehow related, and the photos were probably...
A Box Full of Goodies, Part 2
Readers may notice that Andrew and I attempt to write meaningful articles. It would be easy to scan a few photos or letters, describe them, and leave it at that. Instead, we strive to...
A Box Full of Goodies, Part 1
Several weeks ago my first cousin Kathleen (Robb) Shuler and her husband Gerald “Butch” Shuler were in the area so they stopped over to see Linda and me. It was a beautiful day so...
Connecting Cousins and Classmates
Genealogical research comes in all types of packages. Wherever information is found about someone, this can become a resource. One of the rarely used resources are school records and yearbooks. Several months ago, my...
